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Tournaments  | Story  | 9/16/2018

PG Elite Championship Notes

Greg Gerard     
Photo: Sam Bassett-Kennedy (Perfect Game)

PG Elite Championship Daily Leaders: Freshman | Underclass | Upperclass

A pair of intriguing arms in their own rights took the mound on Friday in Jackson Arnold (2019, Auburn, Ala.) for Homplate and Jalen Borders (2019, Alexandria, Ala.) of Excel. Each pitcher – Arnold, a righthander, and Borders, a lefthander – pitched really well filling up the strike zone and leading their team to a win.

Arnold, a 6-foot Georgia Tech commit, was in complete control in his first two innings before running into some command troubles in his third inning of work. Nonetheless, the righthander showed plenty to like including a fastball that ranged from 87-90 mph while topping out at 91 mph once as well. Arnold has a fast arm and a loose one at that working well through the back and extending out in front. He throws with intent and is able to create plane when down in the zone. When ahead to hitters, he also showed a good curveball that he could land at the knees for strikes or bury to hitters to produce a swing and miss.

Borders is interesting in his own way standing at 6-foot-7, 215-pounds. His fastball reached 88 mph from his online left arm. Like Arnold, Borders’s arm is fast and whips through the back. He showed three pitches in his outing and was able to locate each of them well. With his size, the velocity comes easy and with some minor refining there may still be more to come. The commitment to Belmont worked both sides of the plate with his fastball and tallied up seven strikeouts in his 3 2/3 innings. Getting swings and misses primarily with the fastball, Borders did not have to go to his secondary pitches all that often but he did show some promise with each. Both his slider and changeup have potential with each sitting in the mid- to high-70s.

Cade Smith (2020, Southaven, Miss.) was dominant on Saturday morning as he has been throughout the summer circuit. A righthander on the mound, the Mississippi State commit can run his fastball up to 91 mph accompanied by a short-breaking curveball for swings and misses. He may have not quite reached that velocity on this day, Smith did still produce upper-80s fastballs for lots of strikes. Smith has a loose arm stroke and a three pitch mix that he is able to command in virtually any count. His fastball and curveball are the two pitches he uses most often locating each primarily to the bottom half of the zone while also burying his curveball and getting hitters to chase. The ball simply jumps out of Smith’s hand riding on a downward angle to the plate.




Jordan Walker (2020, Stone Mountain, Ga.) has really started to blossom into an extremely talented two-way player both at third base and one the mound. His ceiling is as high as anyone’s in the 2020 class and what he did this weekend during the Underclass tournament was no different. Walker hit the baseball hard throughout the weekend that ultimately totaled up three hits in seven at-bats (.429 average) including a pair of home runs to his pull side. The swing is powerful with plenty of bat speed combined with natural strength from his projectable 6-foot-4 frame. Walker also had two appearances on the mound over the weekend in which he produced a fastball up to 88 mph. The verbal commitment to Duke and 89th-ranked player nationally is only going to continue to get better while already showing a big-time overall skill-set.

Wyatt Castoe (2020, Fairmount, Ga.) had a monster summer with the bat and college coaches really started to take notice. The middle infielder from North Georgia recently committed to College of Charleston and wreaks of sheer talent both in the infield and at the plate. His actions are fluid in the infield and primarily at second base where he played most of his time this weekend for 6-4-3. The righthanded hitter has plenty of strength to his swing and when he impacts the baseball, the ball jumps off of his barrel. His hands work well into his swing moving short and direct to the baseball. His hand eye coordination combined with his overall knack for hitting the baseball on the barrel make the future Cougar a high contact hitter with potential pop to the gaps.




Xander Stephens (2020, Lilburn, Ga.) had a nice outing in relief for the Duluth Noles as he struck out three in 1 1/3 innings. The big righthander creates steep angle from a full arm action producing a fastball up to 88 mph and consistently living in the upper-80s. Stephens also showed that he has some nice two-way potential at the plate as well. In the game he pitched, Stephens roped a double to the opposite field gap squaring up the baseball on a level barrel plane.




Sam Bassett-Kennedy (2021, Ann Arbor, Mich.) pitched the game of the tournament for the Underclass event going seven complete innings earning a win with one earned run and 13 strikeouts. The tall and projectable lefthander was in control of the game from start to finish mixing three pitches well for strikes. Working primarily off of his fastball that topped out at 86 mph, Bassett-Kennedy was able to work ahead in counts and get lots of swings and misses. The baseball comes from a tough arm angle especially to lefthanded hitters. His online delivery is repeated well for his size and age displaying drop-and-drive actions and a properly used lower half. Each of his offspeed offerings flashed potential with his curveball showing some biting action and his changeup flashing tumbling action. There is a lot to like from the Tennessee commit on the mound and he will only improve with more repetitions at the position.

A pair of freshman Dirtbags players were standouts from the weekend and each deservingly ranked in the Top 100 of the inaugural 2022 class rankings. Tucker Toman (2022, Columbia, S.C.) who is ranked 26th nationally in the 2022 ranks is among one of the top shortstops and pure hitters in the class. The smooth lefthanded hitter has plenty of juice in his bat and is looking to drive the ball when at the plate. He did so on Friday night in particular connecting on a deep opposite field gap triple that really gave a glimpse of the potential power in his bat as he continues to fill out. The freshman shortstop also has good arm strength across the diamond and instincts on the bases.

Carter Boyd (2022, Lewisville, N.C.) is the other standout Dirtbag player who excels on the mound and produces velocity ahead of his years. His outing was unfortunately shortened due to rain but the righthander still gave a nice look to his dominance and potential on the bump. Boyd ran his fastball up to 85 mph sitting 82-85 mph consistently before the aforementioned weather came into play. The righthander has very quick arm speed with plenty more velocity to come in due time. In his one-plus inning of work, Boyd filled up the strike zone with a good fastball, changeup combination that will only continue to improve. The 55th-nationally ranked player’s late diving changeup is a weapon to hitters of either handedness as he throws the pitch with intent and similar arm speed as his fastball. He did get the chance to pitch again in the tournament as the Dirtbags advanced to the championship game of the event. His stuff was similar to in his first outing with a slight dip in velocity pitching on back to back days.

Ryan Spikes (2021, Covington, Ga.) has taken the mound at many PG events since the spring of 2017 and has progressively made strides in a positive way both with his velocity and future projection. Saturday night was no different as Spikes topped out at 89 mph from a long arm action. His command was a bit inconsistent but he still showed good velocity sitting in the upper-80s from the windup and a tick below from the stretch. Spikes is an athletic 5-foot-8, 170-pound righthander who also started each game at shortstop and batted in the leadoff spot throughout the weekend for Team Elite Black. Spikes sprayed the baseball to all parts of the field with a compact swing and line drive approach.

It was a short outing for Logan Austin (2020, Salem, Ala.) but the verbal commitment to Auburn was able to sit 88-92 mph with his fastball and compliment that with a sharp 74 mph breaking ball. Austin tossed just one inning starting a playoff game for the Triton Rays getting a pair of strikeouts in doing so. Austin throws with intent from a clean arm stroke and lots of arm strength.




A 2018 member of the PG Select Baseball Festival Hayden Murphy (2022, Chula, Ga.) made a relief appearance in the semifinals of the tournament giving a really nice showing on the mound on top of his two way potential at the plate and on defense at shortstop. Murphy can swing the bat very well and plays a clean middle infield on top of that, but his ultimate potential may be on the mound as he already has upper-80s velocity that tops out at 87 mph with plenty more velocity to come with maturity. Murphy stands at an extremely projectable 6-foot-2, 165-pounds with plenty of strength to add in time. Murphy throws with intent and a quick, loose arm action. The velocity comes relatively easy and he throws his three pitches around the zone well. Murphy will be a fun pitcher to monitor on the mound as he continues his high school and travel baseball career.
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